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up vote -4 down vote favorite

I have a multi dimensional array like:

[
   {
      "C":[
         {
            "status":"0",
            "num":"3223"
         },
         {
            "status":"1",
            "num":"45186"
         },
         {
            "status":"2",
            "num":"8310"
         },
         {
            "status":"3",
            "num":"82"
         }
      ]
   },
   {
      "F":[
         {
            "status":"0",
            "num":"1506"
         },
         {
            "status":"1",
            "num":"31253"
         },
         {
            "status":"2",
            "num":"1660"
         },
         {
            "status":"5",
            "num":"1017"
         }
      ]
   },
   {
      "A":[
         {
            "status":"0",
            "num":"1506"
         },
         {
            "status":"1",
            "num":"31253"
         },
         {
            "status":"2",
            "num":"1660"
         },
         {
            "status":"5",
            "num":"1017"
         }
      ]
   },
]

I want to sort this based on the keys (C, F, A) etc. I thought about writing my own selection sort kind of sorting method using foreachs, but I am sure it's not a very good way to do. I can also use ksort(), usort(), but not sure how.

I don't need anyone to write the whole code for me please, I will appreciate guidance about what is the best way to go about sorting an array like this.

The above string is actually an json_encode() dump of the array.

Here is the var_dump():

array(6) { [0] => array(1) { 'C' => array(8) { [0] => array(2) { ... } [1] => array(2) { ... } [2] => array(2) { ... } [3] => array(2) { ... } [4] => array(2) { ... } [5] => array(2) { ... } [6] => array(2) { ... } [7] => array(2) { ... } } } [1] => array(1) { 'F' => array(8) { [0] => array(2) { ... } [1] => array(2) { ... } [2] => array(2) { ... } [3] => array(2) { ... } [4] => array(2) { ... } [5] => array(2) { ... } [6] => array(2) { ... } [7] => array(2) { ... } } } [2] => array(1) { 'A' => array(8) { [0] => array(2) { ... } [1] => array(2) { ... } [2] => array(2) { ... } [3] => array(2) { ... } [4] => array(2) { ... } [5] => array(2) { ... } [6] => array(2) { ... } [7] => array(2) { ... } } } [3] => array(1) { 'D' => array(8) { [0] => array(2) { ... } [1] => array(2) { ... } [2] => array(2) { ... } [3] => array(2) { ... } [4] => array(2) { ... } [5] => array(2) { ... } [6] => array(2) { ... } [7] => array(2) { ... } } } [4] => array(1) { 'E' => array(8) { [0] => array(2) { ... } [1] => array(2) { ... } [2] => array(2) { ... } [3] => array(2) { ... } [4] => array(2) { ... } [5] => array(2) { ... } [6] => array(2) { ... } [7] => array(2) { ... } } } [5] => array(1) { 'B' => array(8) { [0] => array(2) { ... } [1] => array(2) { ... } [2] => array(2) { ... } [3] => array(2) { ... } [4] => array(2) { ... } [5] => array(2) { ... } [6] => array(2) { ... } [7] => array(2) { ... } } }}

Above's pretty print

array(6) {
  [0] =>
  array(1) {
    'C' =>
    array(8) {
      [0] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [1] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [2] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [3] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [4] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [5] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [6] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [7] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
    }
  }
  [1] =>
  array(1) {
    'F' =>
    array(8) {
      [0] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [1] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [2] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [3] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [4] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [5] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [6] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [7] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
    }
  }
  [2] =>
  array(1) {
    'A' =>
    array(8) {
      [0] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [1] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [2] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [3] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [4] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [5] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [6] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [7] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
    }
  }
  [3] =>
  array(1) {
    'D' =>
    array(8) {
      [0] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [1] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [2] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [3] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [4] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [5] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [6] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [7] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
    }
  }
  [4] =>
  array(1) {
    'E' =>
    array(8) {
      [0] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [1] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [2] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [3] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [4] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [5] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [6] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [7] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
    }
  }
  [5] =>
  array(1) {
    'B' =>
    array(8) {
      [0] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [1] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [2] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [3] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [4] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [5] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [6] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
      [7] =>
      array(2) {
        ...
      }
    }
  }
}
share|improve this question
 
Not sure, I tried, it cannot get inside the third level or so. –  John Smith Oct 29 at 15:07
 
I don't even know if you need to use multisort. Wouldn't you just ksort the top-level array? It should sort the top level keys by alpha. The result would be A, C, F in that case. Unless the original question wasn't defined enough, that should sort the array properly. OP, is the desire to sort the top-level, and then sort by status? –  jkinz Oct 29 at 15:09
 
@jkinz Do you mean ksort($whateverArray)? It doesn't work for me for some reason. Though it really should. –  John Smith Oct 29 at 15:19
 
Can you var_dump the actual array? If the keys are really A, C, F it should work. The very first example on the ksort doc page is alpha sort, so I'm wondering if there is something else going on here. –  jkinz Oct 29 at 15:22
 
@jkinz I pasted the var dump, I do see something goofy there. –  John Smith Oct 29 at 15:28
show 4 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Here is how I accomplished this. There is probably a better way, but we need to create a new array in memory with the alpha-characters as the actual keys (basically we are removing the parent arrays we don't need). Then we use ksort to actually sort the array. 

<?php 
$test = array(
    array("a" => array("status" =>1, "blah" => 2)),
    array("f" => array("status" =>1, "blah" => 2)),
    array("c" => array("status" =>1, "blah" => 2)),
    array("b" => array("status" =>1, "blah" => 2)),
    array("z" => array("status" =>1, "blah" => 2))
);
foreach($test as $key=>$val){
    foreach($val as $key2=>$val2){
        $newTest[$key2] = $val2;
    }
}
echo '<pre>';
var_dump($test);
ksort($newTest);
var_dump($newTest);
echo '</pre>';
?>
share|improve this answer
 
Thank you, that worked! :) –  John Smith 2 days ago
 
It probably isn't the most efficient, so if you have a lot of objects you may want to think about ways to optimize it, but if you're working with a small dataset it shouldn't be too impactful to performance. Glad it worked for you! –  jkinz 2 days ago

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